Eric Patrick McCormack Photography

Birthday Suit

 

Rowan on his 7th birthday wanted a suit. I have no idea why he wanted a suit, but he wanted one kept asking for one for a year. So we finally bought one for him and he loved it. So I figured that I would take a photo of him in front of the Azalia bush which blossoms every Spring in the bright magneta color you see in the photo below.You see I have taken a photograph of my boys every year around their birthday. I present it for their birthday present.

I than print out the photos and but them in a leather bound book. I give it to them as a gift every year.

This photo I was working with my Rolleiflex and strobe lights. This was one of my first attempts using a flashes in the Strobist fashion. I really like my Rollie, but after shooting some rolls, I have come to realize that the focus is off a bit. However in this image I really like the focus. In fact this image was the most favorite of mine from the roll. I have now idea why he had the leaf in his hand. He just held it there, looking at it in his outstretched hand with his birthday suit on getting his annual photo taken.

 

To Choose or Not to Choose…

I have been asked to donate again one of my photographs for an auction at the school where my brother teaches. I donated one last year and the selection was made by 2 of the women who were handling the organization of the auction. Here was the photo that was selected for last years auction:

This year they are leaving the selection up to me. I have a good idea of which photo I am thinking of selecting.

That is the major reason for this post. I figured that I would put it out there to see if there were any opinions as to which photo I should submit to the auction this year.

 

 

 

 

If you are interested you can comment on this post. If you would like you can comment on any of my photos on  my Flickr stream.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at our destination roughly 12 hours later, actually 13 because of a GPS misinterpretation from my trusty navigator who frequently says “I Love my GP!” I do not love the GP.

Anyway the rest of the family was there. It was a great time and such a refreshing time for me. Thanks to Andrea and Cheryl for the week hiatus thank you soo much!

Montana is truly the Big Sky State it is pretty amazing really, I have lived in Colorado and Wyoming both with sprawling skies, however there is something very different about Montana skies. A day after settling in my oldest son and one of my brothers took a ride around to take pictures. My brother is an avid raptor fan, and loves to photograph them. He even tends after Hawks where he lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Well raptors are plentiful in Montana especially in Gallatin county. The skies are frequented by hawks and eagles. Just down the road from where we were staying perched in a tree was a bald eagle. It almost waited for us to pull up and my brother just started snapping away from outside the passenger window. After he was finished we drove on a little further. The sun was beginning to set and I wanted to capture the scene. If you are into mountain vistas this part of Montana is full of them! I found a spot and set up my camera on my tripod and adjusted and focused and than started to shoot I had a neutral density filter on the lens this allows you to take long exposure photographs during the daylight. Both my brother and son asked what I was doing? “I am just taking a photo, we will see if it works”, I said.

Here it is you decide…

 

Montana Part 1

We started our road trip from Portland to Bozeman Montana at an ungodly hour, we left the house at 4 am. You see the rest of my family was already there and we (I mean my wife and kids) could not wait any longer to get there. She took the first leg of the trip. Which was a great confidence builder for her since I always drive. Driving with her “brights” on the whole morn/night. I kept telling her to turn them off when oncoming traffic was approaching. Her reply well I can’t see as well. Let them suffer, I guess?

I finally fell back asleep, not long enough however. I took the wheel somewhere in Washington before the road started to climb and become twisty. We pushed onward. The kids were mostly sleeping. After driving through Spokane and Coeur d’Alane and getting coffee at a small roadside store we pressed on. Not too long after there was a call from the back. “Dad I have to go to the bathroom.”

Traveling with boys is not such a bad ordeal in this case you just pull over to the side of the road they go and you move on. We were on the road somewhere near the border between Idaho and Montana. There were no signs of a roadside rest area, if memory serves that sign we passed about 10 miles back said no services for another 68 miles. Great!

We were approaching an exit so I decide to pull off there and let him “water the trees”. The exit was not much and we followed the dirt road around a bit we passed a driveway and were greeted by a barking dog, I drove on a little further we also passed a Sarah Palin’s sign in front of another driveway. Drove on a bit further. This should be a good place, so he got out and did the watering and returned to the car. I drove on down a bit further to see a Dead End sign. So flipping around and proceeded back where we came. Up the road was the dog and  a man and hanging from his hand was a hammer. As we approached going about 5 miles per hour I moved to go around him. He moved to step in front.

Ok I was thinking to myself this is gonna get weird. Well I slowed to a stop the guy sort of yells through the window “Merry F’&*%*&^*ing Christmas how would you like it if I came to pee on your property?” Sorry sir I says my Son had to use the bathroom. “Yeah I got kids too! These are homes here!” He goes on as his face is twitching in rage I notice the hammer moving a bit. “You know hundreds of people a day come here and f&(*()(ing pee here. I am sorry about that I say I got your message. He just stood there, with all that rage twisting in his face. My brain is screaming go now you idiot! I started to drive away, all I could think is if he stared to swing I am either gonna swing the door open and floor it or just floor it. All he said was Merry Fucking Christmas as I pulled away.

After we get back on the road my wife condescends “You should have ran him over, that is what I would have done!” Trumpeted by my son in the back Yeah Dad!

Well I reply we are all ok the rig is ok and all we had was a guy with a hammer cussing at us. I would say we are good.

 

Wow!